Welcome to Elderfield NPC & Villager Guide
Last updated: 2026-09-18 · 9 min read
Welcome to Elderfield gives you nine residents you can actually build a relationship with, a second tier of townsfolk who exist to hand out tasks and services, and a schedule system that moves almost all of them around the map between morning and midnight. Nothing in the game tells you the rotation. This page does: who everyone is, where they live, the four-slot day every NPC runs on, and the three reasons a villager keeps being "missing" when you go looking for them.
Nine characters can be befriended and married: Tanner, Sam, Ellie, Edwin, Josh, Molly, Alice, Blorph and Celeste. Every NPC runs the same four-slot day — morning, afternoon, evening, night — and the evening slot is almost always the Eldersfield Saloon. If a villager is not where you expect, it is nearly always one of three causes: the wrong time slot, rain or snow (which sends most of them home), or a task that has relocated them until you finish it. Homes are fixed and are never the reason you cannot find someone during the day.
The Full Roster
The village splits cleanly in two. The nine "main characters" have schedules, homes, gift tables and a friendship meter that eventually reaches ten hearts. Everyone else is a service or a task-giver, and while a few of them (the Mayor, the Tax Man, the Travelling Merchant) matter a great deal to your economy, they are not relationship targets.
| Portrait | Character | Home | Usually found | Romanceable |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Tanner | Tanner's Cabin, at the Old Woods entrance | Town Outskirts (West), the bus stop near your home, outside Greystone Estates, outside the Flower Shop, inside the Pet Shop | Yes |
 | Sam | Apartment 1, first floor, Greystone Estates | The Town Lakefront all day Monday to Saturday | Yes |
 | Ellie | Town (North West), the house to the right of the bus stop — the one with boarded-up windows | The Town Library, the Lakefront, the General Store, outside Greystone Estates, the abandoned building west of the Police Station | Yes |
 | Edwin | Town (North West), left of the bus stop — the unit with the lit porch light | The Town Mall entrance, near the Task Board, or in the Sewers by the exit up to the Lakefront | Yes |
 | Josh | Town (West) duplex, right-hand unit — shares the building with Alice | Anywhere in Town; the crossroads by the Mall sign, the north-east bus stop beside Old Man Jackson's house, the bus stop near your home, in front of the playground | Yes |
 | Alice | Town (West) duplex, left-hand unit — shares the building with Josh | The road in Town (North) by the Town Outskirts entrance, the Mall Food Court, the Farmhouse | Yes |
 | Molly | Runs the Workshop in Town Outskirts (West) | The Workshop, the Library, near the Town Task Board, outside the General Store | Yes |
 | Blorph | The Sewers of Town (North East), behind the Police Station | The same spot, all day, every day | Yes |
 | Celeste | No fixed address given | Occasionally just outside the Library during the Season of Death | Yes |
Character portraits and location screenshots on this page are from the Welcome to Elderfield Wiki, used under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Every other villager moves between slots, which means a friendship you are trying to push to ten hearts costs you a walk across the map most days. Blorph never moves. He is in the sewers behind the police station in every time slot on every day of the week, so the daily talk-and-gift step takes one short trip. The trade is that his gift table is the strangest in the game: he loves Stealth Musk, Godflesh, Godscale, Pickled Eyeballs and the Odd Sandwich, and he hates ordinary food — bread, pizza, wheat, corn, milk, eggs, cake. The full list is in the gift guide.
How NPC Schedules Work
Every main character's day is divided into four slots, and the wiki's schedule tables are read as "where this person can be during this slot". The pattern is more consistent than it looks once you know the three rules:
- Monday to Saturday are usually identical. For most characters the only meaningful difference in the week is Sunday, when the church-going residents (Edwin, Josh, Alice) spend the whole day at the Church instead of their normal loop.
- The evening slot is the Saloon. Tanner, Sam, Ellie, Edwin, Josh, Alice and Molly all end up at the Eldersfield Saloon in the evening, with the caveat that they sometimes stay where they were during the day instead. If you need to talk to almost anyone after dark, check the Saloon first.
- Night is home. Once the night slot starts, residents are at their own address unless a task says otherwise. This is why "knocking on their door" works at midnight and not at noon.
Two modifiers override the table:
- Weather. Rain or snow keeps Tanner, Ellie, Edwin, Josh, Molly and Alice at home for the day. A rainy day is a lost friendship day unless you go to their house.
- Task relocations. Several tasks pin a character to a location until you finish them. Tanner waits at the Town Outskirts while the "Lost Gameboy" task is open; Sam relocates around Greystone Estates while "Childhood Fear" is active. If a villager has vanished "for no reason", check your open tasks before you assume a bug.
There is also a Farm visit, which is the single most useful schedule event in the game: when a character visits your farm, they stay until midnight. That is a free, guaranteed conversation and gift with no travel, so take it whenever it appears. See the map guide for how the areas connect.
Where Everyone Lives
Homes matter for two reasons: at night they are the only place a character can be found, and the two Town (North West) houses are easy to mix up because they sit either side of the same bus stop.
| Location | Where | Who lives there | How to tell it apart |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Town (North West) | Ellie, Edwin | Ellie is on the right of the bus stop in a dilapidated house with boarded-up windows; Edwin is on the left, in the unit with the lit porch light |
| Town (West) duplex | Josh and Alice | At the opposite end of the street from Ellie and the bus stop, next to Edwin's. Josh has the right-hand unit, Alice the left |
 | Greystone Estates | Sam | Apartment 1 on the first floor |
 | Tanner's Cabin | Tanner | At the entrance to the Old Woods, on the right |
 | Town Outskirts (West) | Molly (workshop) | Molly runs the Workshop rather than living in a house; access opens once you complete her first task |
 | Town (North East) sewers | Blorph | Behind the police station, down in the sewers |
Greystone Estates is worth remembering as more than an address: Sam lives there, the building has a rooftop and a laundry basement with their own events, and the whole complex is a common destination for the residents' day loops. If you are looking for three different people in one trip, this is where to start.
The Characters You Cannot Marry
These NPCs are not relationship targets, but several of them are load-bearing for your economy. Two in particular appear on a fixed rhythm and will not wait for you.
| Character | What they do | When to care |
|---|---|---|
| Farmer Hans | The farm task line from the Farmhouse; he is how farming opens up in the first place | Day one and beyond — his tasks hand over the first farming tools and recipes |
| The Mayor | Civic quests and the festival announcements | Before each day-27 festival, and at Halloween when the costume is delivered |
| The Tax Man | Collects his due; arrives with the Pale Moon | Every two weeks. He walks into town on the Farm Path, so either have the payment ready or plan around him |
| The Travelling Merchant | Buys crops and animal products at above-shop rates | Every weekend — Saturday and Sunday, set up on the Farm Path. He only buys certain items each week, at random prices, so check his stock before you sell your best harvest in town |
| Father Desmond | Church of the Old Gods clergy | When you start choosing a god to follow |
| Akira | Apartment Building resident tied to the mystery investigation line | Once your mystery count matters |
| Klaus, Henrietta and the rest | Supporting townsfolk and service NPCs with dialogue but no friendship track | Only if a task sends you to them |
| "Grandma" | Appears after you lose to a Farm Boss and offers to make the boss go away for a fee | If a farm boss is genuinely blocking you and you would rather pay than fight |
Friendship, and What It Unlocks
Friendship is advanced by three inputs, and only these three: talking to a character daily, giving them gifts, and completing their personal tasks. Ten hearts is the cap and the point at which relationships can move to a proposal — the mechanics, the schedules you have to work around, and what actually stalls a route are covered in the romance and marriage guide.
The practical consequence of the schedule system is that friendship is a travel problem, not a difficulty problem. Picking one or two characters whose day loops overlap with places you already go — Tanner in Town Outskirts West, Molly at the Workshop, Blorph who never moves — is far more efficient than trying to raise everyone at once and spending the whole day walking. Save your best gifts for the moments you have a character on the farm until midnight, because that is a free conversation you would otherwise have paid travel time for.
"I Cannot Find Them"
| Problem | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| A villager is not at their house at noon | Daylight slots are their moving-around slots; only the night slot is reliably home | Come back in the night slot, or catch them at the Saloon in the evening |
| Nobody is where they normally are | It is raining or snowing | Rain and snow send most residents home for the day. Go door to door instead |
| One character has vanished for days | A task has relocated them | Check your open tasks — several pin the giver to a location until resolved |
| Sam, Josh or Alice is missing on a Sunday | The Sunday slot is the Church for several residents | Go to the Church; Sunday is not a normal day for them |
| I cannot find Celeste at all | Celeste has no weekday schedule table — only a seasonal note | Look outside the Library during the Season of Death |
| I cannot reach a house at all | The house is in an area you have not opened yet | Greystone Estates, the Sewers and the northern roads unlock as the main story progresses — see the progression guide |
| My friendship stopped moving | Friendship can also decrease — gifts in the "hated" column cost you progress | Check the character's hated list in the gift guide before you hand anything over |
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